- Establishing a care plan: Just like professional caregivers, family caregivers need to create care plans. It’s especially important when more than one family member is helping because everybody needs to have access to the same information. As a family caregiver, you may need to meet with your loved one’s doctor and any other medical professionals to ensure that all medical conditions, treatments, and medications are understood and properly administered.
- Taking care of transportation: Family caretakers often provide transportation for their loved ones. You may need to be responsible for driving your loved one wherever he or she needs to go, including to doctors’ appointments and the grocery store.
- Managing finances: The loved one you’re caring for may have trouble keeping his or her finances straight. If bills start going unpaid or checks are bouncing, then you may need to step in and help your family member manage the finances.
- Providing companionship: Your loved one may become lonely and require emotional support. In fact, Pew Research Center found that 68 percent of adults give some level of emotional support to their aging family members. So just being there to make your loved one feel connected is important.
- Scheduling: Family caregivers often need to help their loved ones make appointments and arrange proper transportation for getting to and from them.
- Arranging in-home care services: Family caregivers are not always able to take care of everything themselves. If that’s the case for you, then you may need to arrange professional services like housecleaning and meal deliveries.
- Ensuring home safety: Loved ones staying at home need to be kept safe. So family caregivers need to assess and address safety risks, make sure that smoke alarms have batteries, install handrails, and take care of any other safety measures that can help reduce the risk of accidents and injuries.
- Creating emergency plans: Family caregivers cannot usually be present with their loved ones at all times. So it’s important to develop an emergency plan that your family member can easily follow if an accident happens when he or she is home alone.
Tips for Family Caregivers
A caregiver job—especially one that is unpaid—comes with great responsibility. But it can also provide a lot of personal fulfillment. In fact, Pew Research Center found that 88 percent of adults who help care for their aging family members say that it’s rewarding. However, almost 60 percent of unpaid adult caregivers consider providing care to be a medium to high burden to carry, according to the AARP report. However, almost 60 percent of unpaid adult caregivers consider providing care to be a medium to high burden to carry. So it’s clear that caring for a loved one comes with its fair share of challenges and rewards.
That said, family caregivers can take steps to help minimize the challenges that come with caring for aging loved ones. The 10 tips below can help you feel successful in your role as a family caregiver.
1. Take care of your mental and physical health. Make sure that you’re taking time for yourself in order to reduce the chances of burning out. Get exercise, attend yoga classes, make time to visit with your friends, and take part in other activities that you enjoy. Also, make sure you’re getting enough rest and sleep.
2. Develop stress-management techniques. The AARP study found that more than 40 percent of unpaid adult caregivers wanted more information about how to handle their stress. Doing simple things like coloring in an adult coloring book, getting fresh air, or meditating for 20 minutes a day may be enough to keep your stress level low.
3. Educate yourself. It’s important to become familiar with your loved one’s condition, as well as with basic caregiving principles. After all, the more you understand about caregiving and your loved one’s specific needs, the easier it will be to care for him or her. According to the AARP study, 85 percent of unpaid adult caregivers said that they would like more information about caregiving topics, especially information about how to keep their loved ones safe at home.
4. Create a schedule. Even if you’re the only family member who is providing care, it’s important to have a schedule. You should include your scheduled care times, personal time, and loved one’s appointments, along with the schedule details of any other family members who are also helping.
5. Stay organized. Use file folders or binders to hold all of the important information related to your loved one’s care. Include phone numbers, lists of current and past medications, medical documents, and test results.
6. Make sure all legal documents are in order. While your loved one is in a clear mental state, it’s important to update all legal and insurance documents. Specifically, you’ll want to ensure that his or her will is accurate, that he or she has a power of attorney named, and that the beneficiaries on insurance plans and investment accounts reflect your loved one’s current wishes.
7. Don’t let problems pile up. Be sure to deal with any challenges as they come up so that your to-do list remains manageable. Communicate with your loved one if you feel the relationship is becoming strained or tense. (Not communicating your expectations clearly can lead to estranged relationships between family members.)
8. Be realistic about your capabilities. Assess your own life situation in order to determine the level of care that you can offer to your loved one. If you’re working a demanding, full-time job and have a young family at home, then assisting your family member 20 or more hours per week may not be realistic.
9. Connect with other caregivers in your community. It can be helpful to make connections with other people who are going through similar experiences. You may be able to find and join caregiver support groups. It’s important to feel connected and supported while caring for your loved one.
10. Seek professional help if it’s needed. If you find that caring for your loved one is too much to manage on your own, then be sure to ask for help. Talk to other family members and close friends to see who may be able to offer a hand. Additionally, look into the support services that are available in your community, such as in-home care, meal delivery, and medical assistance services.
